In the carved-out hangar of the Morning Star, Darrow inspects the Spirit of Faran, now housing Glirastes’s massive EMP device. Amid tense testing, Glirastes rants about the urgency and complexity, then coolly declares a problem solved. Pressed for clarity, he outlines a novel damped sine wave approach designed to bypass Venusian shielding, warning the staggering energy demands could kill them if misapplied.

Afterward, Darrow, Harnassus, and Thraxa debate Glirastes’s reliability. Harnassus trusts collective oversight by hundreds of engineers, but keeping the eccentric Maker content—specifically with Tuesday sardines—becomes a practical priority. Joking about Sevro’s habits leads Darrow to seek sardines in Sevro’s stateroom after his guards balk at rumored traps.

Darrow promptly triggers Sevro’s defenses and collapses under a storm of needles until a Yellow medicus administers antivenom. A holographic Sevro message and an AI grant Darrow second-class access, deactivating further traps and cheekily welcoming the “Best Friend” to “Sevro’s Palace.” His guards withdraw as Darrow surveys the sprawling suite.

In Sevro’s armory and memorial walls, Darrow sees razors, trophies, and relics—Ragnar’s blade, Quinn’s cloak, Octavia’s cape, and Darrow’s own Institute slingBlade—opposite holos and keepsakes of Sevro’s family centered by Fitchner’s Ares armor. Confronted by the fusion of war and home that shaped Sevro, Darrow understands Sevro’s choice to return to Luna and privately resolves to be the husband and father his family deserves.